20,000 holiday gifts flying to 6,400 Michigan children thanks to Operation Good Cheer

Over 20,000 Christmas gifts will be delivered to more than 6,400 Michigan foster care children and adults this holiday season thanks to Operation Good Cheer. Each year, donors buy items from wish lists and pilots volunteer their time to fly to locations across the state making sure everyone receives their gifts in time for Christmas. Gifts were being sorted Friday, Dec. 1, 2017, at Pentastar Aviation, 7310 Highland Road, in Waterford. (Mark Cavitt/The Oakland Press)

Over 20,000 Christmas gifts will be delivered to more than 6,400 Michigan foster care children and adults this holiday season thanks to Operation Good Cheer. Each year, donors buy items from wish lists and pilots volunteer their time to fly to locations across the state making sure everyone receives their gifts in time for Christmas. Gifts were being sorted Friday, Dec. 1, 2017, at Pentastar Aviation, 7310 Highland Road, in Waterford. (Mark Cavitt/The Oakland Press)

Organized chaos would be the best way to describe the scene inside the hangar at Pentastar Aviation in Waterford Friday morning.

Over 20,000 gifts and hundreds of volunteers packed the facility, 7310 Highland Road, as Operation Good Cheer was in full swing. The annual initiative provides gifts to more than 6,400 foster care children, and adults, across Michigan.

Donors groups and individuals purchase the gifts and wrap them from a ‘wish list”,. which provides the age, gender and size of each child. The items are then delivered, by volunteers, to the airport for sorting and packing onto more than 270 private planes.

Pilots donate their time, and planes, flying around the state delivering gifts to 26 airports, beginning at 7 a.m. Saturday. Airports in Kalamazoo, Alpena, Grand Rapids, Saginaw, Flint, Lansing, Traverse City, Sawyer and Howell participate in the event.

David Vanderveen, Oakland County International Airport director, said the annual event warms his heart.

“This started 46 years ago with just a small group of people that wanted to make a difference in the community,” said Vanderveen. “Thousands of children will have a Christmas because of this program. The logistics of this event is amazing. This does your heart good because of the impact this has on all the children.”

The event is coordinated by Child and Family Services of Michigan, a non-profit that works to promote the emotional and social well-being of children and their families. Since the program’s inception, nearly 93,000 children have received gifts.

Greg Schmidt, president and CEO of Pentastar, said Operation Good Cheer is one of his favorite events.

“We have been hosting it for over a decade,” said Schmidt. “We are making Christmas brighter for thousands of children and it’s just fantastic. The aviation industry is known for being generous with their time and talent. It’s a great day.”

Many regional businesses sent employees over to Waterford Friday morning to help sort the gifts being taken off moving trucks.

Troy resident Joe Babi, a General Motors employee, said he wanted to volunteer his time because it’s important to provide for children less fortunate than others.

“Some kids wouldn’t have a Christmas if it wasn’t for all the volunteers here this morning,’ said Babi. “It’s also a good team building event for those of us at GM. It feels good to be around other people.”

Howell resident Mary Acker said the volunteers are blessed to have the opportunity to share and give.

“It’s an amazing thing,” said Acker. “ These (foster care) children don’t have the opportunities that some of our children have so it’s a good thing to share with them”